Fury as planners recommend 250-home development for approval

More than 200 people campaigning against plans to build 250 homes on Lyndon Playing Fields in Great Harwood.

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Campaigners have hit out after controversial plans to build up to 250 homes on a popular Great Harwood playing field were recommended for approval by council planners.

Hyndburn council planning officers have recommended that the proposed development by Reilly Developments Ltd on Lyndon Playing Fields be approved for planning permission.

Last week, we revealed that more than 200 campaigners had gathered at the site to protest against the application.

The Lyndon Playing Fields Association has collected more than 1,150 signatures objections to the scheme, which they claim could lead to an increase of 10 per cent in the town’s population amid fears of the effect it will have on local infrastructure.

Pauline Embley, chairperson of the Lyndon Playing Fields Association, is disappointed with the recommendation.

She said: “This is nothing more than what we have all expected from the start, but we had to fight.

“We have been dismissed, over a thousand individual letters were sent.”

Fellow campaigner Patrick McGinley said he was shocked.

He added: “I’m absolutely gobsmacked. There have been 1,150 individual personal objections from the people of Great Harwood.

“People simply do not want or need these housing developments. This is not just a planning or housing issue, it is a matter which affects the health and wellbeing of everyone in Great Harwood.”

The development will see four football pitches and changing facilities built on the greenfield site. A report produced by Hyndburn planners said that it represented ‘sustainable development in the area’.

The report adds: “Planning law makes no provision for the determination of planning applications by referendum.

“It is the materiality of the point being raised that should be taken into consideration, not the weight of objection.

“The playing fields are owned by the council, it was not a gift to the people of Great Harwood.

“The development of 250 new houses, over 50 per cent of that planned for Great Harwood in the Core Strategy, will increase spend and economic activity in the area.

“It will also provide a significant boost to the local house building and construction sector that has been depressed over recent years.”

An agent for PWA Planning, acting on behalf of the developers, said they were pleased the application had been recommended for approval.

A final decision on the application will be made by the planning committee on Wednesday, October 21.